Catalina Island Leadership Program

Phoenix Country Day School

Kelp Forest Information Links

Channel Islands National Marine Sanctuaries

Rover Diver Fish Count

Our Research

Catalina Island. A place to have fun while kayaking, snorkeling and completing research that will help us further understand the ocean, and specifically the kelp forest. Catalina island is one of the Channel Islands, located off the coast of California. Catalina is the home of many unique plants and animals. We studied for a week with the CELP program, which stands for Catalina Environmental Leadership Program. Assigned to a CELP leader, our separate groups spent the week snorkeling, hiking, gardening while learning about composting, star gazing, completing a ropes course, and studying algae and maine life. As our grade continued the study that took place last year at the same place, we helped get more information on the turbidity, the salinity, water depth, and more. We used the program MyWorld to consolidate our data. It was exciting to be involved in a research that could further change the future of the kelp in Catalina.

How does animal life vary from day to night? As partners, we were asked to have a research question before we left for the island. Both of us were interested in the fish and marine life of the islands. We concluded that our question would be related to fish in come way. We decided that we wanted to see and tell the differences of what animals are out and about at day, verses the night. Our final question ended up being, “What creatures are in the sea at day and at night, and how do the populations vary.” By going on three day snorkels and one night snorkel, we saw firsthand the answer to our question. We collected our data on an Roving Diver fish count, which counted how many fish of what species we saw in a period of five minutes. This helped us remember the fish we had seen. Using our cameras, we also took pictures of the animals that roamed at day and night.

After collecting all of this data, we have a good idea of what fish are nocturnal and diurnal. We also found our that some fish roam at day and at night, like the leopard shark, and sea urchins. Fish in the day include garibaldi, blue banded gobi, kelp bass, canary rockfish, senorita, anchovy’s, leopard sharks, and many more. The night animals we saw were horn sharks, lobsters, bat rays, sea urchins, and others as well. On this map, we are marking where and when we saw certain animals. Some difficulties we were challenged with was trying to come up with a map that would grasp what we were trying to show to the viewer. Another difficulty we encountered was that we were the first group at our school to choose this topic. We had to start from scratch which was difficult. If someone else was interested in this topic, our map and our roving diver fish count would be of use. During an el nino year, the animals might vary from a normal year. The normal cold water brought by upwelling brings nutrients for the fish and plantlife. When the temperatures change in an el Nino year, there are not enough nutrients for all the fish, so the fish population drops, eventually damaging the food chain. As we researched this interesting topic, our ultimate goal was to contribute to the great world of science for those in future generations.